Could I Be More Annoyed ?

Could I Be More Annoyed?

I don’t think so.  Last Thursday I took a walk down to the arena to see how things were coming along.  Seems that the arena crew (two kids sent over instead of a professional excavator) were at the farm spreading the footing (sand) with a leveling rake.

Me:

“Why are you taking piles of sand out of the arena”?

Cocky Know–it–all–kid:

“Because there’s too much sand and it’s too deep and if it’s too deep it’s no good for the horses legs”.

“Oh.  Why don’t you let me be the judge of how much footing goes in and I’ll worry about my horses legs.  By the way, the stone dust base is showing through in the middle here.  I don’t think it’s too deep, I think you should put that sand you took out back in.”

“No, we’ll level the sand in the arena and put that sand over by the shed where there’s some gaps by the foundation”.

“That’s not going to work.  The sand won’t hold and it will slide; we need topsoil over there”.

Dumb expression on his face with the ‘I can’t hear you’ look my kids used to give me.  Accompanied by the ‘I’m doing it anyway’ attitude.

“Why are you using my tractor?  You don’t have permission to use my tractor.  It’s not a toy it’s an expensive piece of equipment.”

“I forgot the keys to the bulldozer.”

“Well I don’t want you just taking the tractor without asking first.”

No reply.

I walk away because I’m not getting anywhere with this very cocky kid who thinks he knows everything and doesn’t need to listen to some old broad telling him what to do.

They left after a few more attempts at leveling with the rake.  Went down to check it out again.  This is when I discovered the huge gash in the stirrup rail.  Guess the tractor is not as easy to steer as it looks.  I check the tractor out, the cab is filled with sand.  I’m sure they dumped a whole bucket full over themselves before they figured out how to use the controls properly. Did I mention that by now I’m really annoyed?

Our neighbor Dave is a great guy and he helps us out by mowing and other handyman type of jobs around the farm.  Dave takes very good care of the tractor and so he washed the entire cab out, flushed out the radiator and polished the whole thing.  He was none to happy about the condition they left ‘his’ tractor in.  Thanks for the help, Dave.

Saturday they never showed up to continue the leveling job as promised. What a surprise. The contractor can’t be reached by phone, because when my number comes up he must ignore the call.  I sent him an e-mail Sunday night asking why they didn’t show and why the kids feel free to use my tractor and I told him I wanted the sand put back in the arena and to keep his crew off my tractor, etc…

Monday morning I get a call from neighbor Dave.

“That kid just rolled the tractor... no injuries though.”

“WHAT?”

“They rolled it off the ramp going to the indoor.  The roof is trashed, the three-point hitch and mowing deck are bent and there are lots of scratches on it.  They just pulled it upright with the bulldozer, and it slammed down pretty hard on its wheels.  They shouldn’t have done that, it’s not good for the tractor.”

“Thanks Dave, I’ll get in touch with the contractor and let him know.”

Can’t get in touch with the contractor for a while, then he’s apologetic.  I asked him did he get my e-mails?  No, he never saw them.  Okay, then why were they putting the sand back in the arena? Doesn’t matter now anyway.  The tractor needs to be fixed ASAP; we need it for mowing and other things.  He’ll take care of it. Uh, no, I’ll call the tractor company and have them pick it up and fix it.  By the way did I mention that I just finished making the payments two months ago and now the tractor is ours to do with it whatever we will, like roll it over down hills?  Well isn’t that just dandy.  I knew the minute it was paid off something would happen to it. 

One another note: Mellon injured his left front leg. Had the vet out for a look and an ultrasound.  He did a good job on himself this time. He’s torn all sorts of things and is now on stall rest for months.  This is not the horse that can handle being on stall rest; on a good day he’s neurotic, to say the least.  He needs a horse to stay in with him during the day so Sweetie volunteered. This way she can stay cool under the fans and the bugs aren’t so bad, no one bothers her, and she naps on and off during the day to rest her legs.  She and Sami or Dusty go out with her at night when it’s cooler.

It never ends around here.

Until next time

Quote for Today

Manure Happens